So many questions raised in 'Lost' premiere

by Maureen Ryan

It may take a while to process everything from Tuesday’s season premiere of “Lost,” but this is certain: It was fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat as the revelations and the heartbreaks and the dual timelines unfolded.

According to the Smoke Monster, the evil entity that is occupying a version of John Locke’s body, Locke’s last thought was, “I don’t understand.” Poor Locke. He died confused, with so many questions. Tuesday’s revelations are setting up an intriguing endgame for the show (and the series finale, creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof announced on Jimmy Kimmel’s show Tuesday night, will be May 23).

Here are a few lingering questions about the ABC drama:

1. Season 6 will have dual timelines: one showing the Oceanic flight landing safely in LA, and one showing the people on the island dealing with the fallout from Jacob’s death. Will the timelines converge?

More important, we got to see what people do when they are (unwittingly) given a do-over in life — will they keep making the same mistakes?

Are we going to find out, in the end, that crashing on the island was the best thing that could have happened? It cured Rose’s cancer; it fixed Locke’s legs; it allowed Kate to stay out of jail; it got Charlie off drugs; it helped Jin to avoid getting in trouble with authorities; it allowed Sun to be someone other than the wife of an unpleasant man.

2. Sayid was dying around the time that Jacob was killed by Ben. Jacob’s ghost told Hurley to get Sayid over to the Temple in order to save Sayid. Will we find out that the Jacob entity is occupying Sayid’s body?

3. Could Jack and Sawyer be the next iteration of Jacob and SmokeLocke?

Could the Oceanic survivors be used, eventually, as the bodily vessels of those two entities and carry on their battle? Or will Jack and Sawyer just be locked in a similar struggle of hate and misunderstanding? And is it going to take forgiveness or surrender — in either struggle — before peace can come to the island?

4. Does Miles know what Sayid thought at the time of his death? Or was he unable to hear anything because Sayid wasn’t dead, or was in the process of becoming Jacob? Speaking of Miles, what did poor, ill-fated Juliet mean when she said (via Miles), “It worked”?

5. What role will the people from the Temple play? And will some of them continue to dress and act like refugees from a1970s kung fu flick?